Jane Sapp, SPF Cultural Coordinator, sings “We Shall Not Be Moved” at anti-immigration law rally at the end of march across Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

 

Tirso Moreno of the Florida Farm Workers Association addresses march rally on immigration issues.

 

Special to the Democrat by:

John Zippert, Co-Publisher

 Over one hundred grantees, staff and friends of the Southern Partners Fund marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Saturday, June 23 to protest Alabama’s HB 56 and HB 568 anti-immigration laws.

The Southern Partners Fund (SPF) is an Atlanta based foundation, owned and controlled by its grantees that supports community organizing efforts across the Southeast. The SPF was established by grantees of the former Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM). SPF has received assets and contributions from BAMM, other foundations and individuals who support its vision, purposes and programs.

The grantees of Southern Partners Fund, which includes organizations that are working with farmworkers and undocumented people were very concerned about the Alabama immigration law in relation to their visit to Selma for a grantees meeting. Some undocumented Hispanic workers in SPF member organizations were fearful of coming to the state because of Alabama’s anti-immigrant laws.

The march started from the Dallas County Courthouse to the place where the original “Bloody Sunday” marchers were beaten on Highway 80 East. After the march, the SPF group held a discussion of the immigration laws and ways to fight them at a tent in the Selma Bridge-Crossing Memorial Park.

Joyce Parker of Greeneville, Mississippi and an SPF Board member said, “we are marching because our march symbolizes the spirit of the past and our protest of the current deplorable state of immigration rights in Alabama and the nation.”

Tirso Moreno of the Florida Farmworkers Association in Apopka, Florida and an SPF leader said, “the struggle of the civil rights movement continues. It is now a struggle for human rights and immigrant rights. Most of the undocumented people in America are working hard, harvesting fruits and vegetables in the fields, doing hand labor in restaurants, construction sites and other workplaces. They were uprooted from their homes in Mexico, Guatemala and Central America by NAFTA and other free trade agreements which made it impossible for them to live in their home countries. They have come to the U. S. seeking work to support their families and give them the basic necessities of life.”

Ron White, Executive Director of SPF said, “Dr. King marched here in Selma because there was no other way to address unjust law which kept Black people from voting – we are here today to march against Alabama’s unjust immigration law, voter suppression laws and attacks on public education and workers’ rights. Our foundation takes this direct action today against immigration injustice and we will take other actions in the future with our grants and to support the actions of our grantees and partners.”

At the rally at the end of the march, Tirso Moreno said, “ Whether we were brought here or came here seeking work – all of us are immigrants and the attack on immigrants really goes against the basic principles and values of human rights of all people. Some of these attacks on immigrants are focused against darker skinned Mexicans, Guatemalans and other indigenous people of the Hemisphere and represent the worst kind of racial profiling.”

Victor Spezzini of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA) said, “the goal of Alabama’s HB56 and 568 is to make life unbearable for immigrants. It is the Arizona law with an Alabama twist. It makes it a crime to be or hire a day laborer; to rent a home to an undocumented person, or to knowingly assist an undocumented person. The goal is for immigrants to ‘self-deport’. Some of these provisions are on hold until a court rules on the law’s constitutionality.”

Caesar Mata, an immigrant who came to this country in search of work when his family business went bankrupt in Mexico some 15 years ago said, “ it took me a month to successfully cross the border. I found work in the Birmingham area. Now HB56 is going to destroy my dreams again. I am not going to run anymore. I am going to work with Black and Brown people in an alliance to change these unjust laws and conditions.”

Many members of the SPF group participated in the discussion of the issues of immigration, voting, workers and education rights. They also expressed appreciation for being able to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge following in the footsteps of other “freedom fighters and movement foot soldiers’ .

More information on the Southern partners Fund can be found at their website at: www.spfund.org.